Weigh out there

After reading the report, I couldn’t help but notice the ads on TV for supposed ways to lose those extra pounds. I recalled several years ago when some really creative methods were publicized — methods that were supposed to “solve the problem.” For instance, there was the woman who teamed up with a guru-type person who claimed that all you had to do is follow her program and “voila,” the pounds disappeared. After all, everyone knows (don’t they?) someone who has been overweight for a long time and has tried many times to lose pounds has little possibility of losing weight for good. Just ask Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers.

Another interesting gimmick for losing weight turned up in a book I read around that time titled, “Why We Get Fat” by Gary Traube. He said we are going about trying to lose weight in the wrong way. He may be right, but it’s hard to believe that his method is the answer either. He recommends eating a high fat diet replete with fatty meats and very low in carbohydrates. According to Traube, an ideal dinner is a big T-bone steak, a cup of salad greens with a fatty dressing and 1/2 to 1 cup of a vegetable. And you will not be hungry!

One more 20th century magical weight loss solution. I wonder what happened to Sensa. It was on one of those channels that offer us 30-minute commercials. All you had to do was sprinkle it on your food and you would find you were satisfied quickly and the pounds just melted off. No counting calories, no restrictive diet, no packaged food. We were told that Sensa activated your “hunger control switch” so you never feel hungry or deprived. (How many times have we heard that before?). Millions of people have lost a gazillion pounds. Call in the next 30 minutes and you can get a 30-day supply for just $9.99. Nowhere were we told just what was in this stuff. Would it be found to cause some health problems similar to those caused by some diet pills?

If all of that failed, we could get the new huge tome, “The 4 hour Body — an uncommon guide to rapid weight loss, incredible sex and becoming superhuman.” No, that’s not a joke! It was number 7 on the Bay Area non-fiction best-seller list on Feb. 27, 2011! Hard to believe.

Does anyone really know what has caused the unprecedented increase in obesity among both adults and children? Choose one or more: The weakness of so many consumers to avoid high calorie foods and get their diets in order. Maybe some high-processed foods that may be changing appetite or metabolism, chemicals used in processed foods and/or the environment like those in Roundup that can cause changes in body processes, psychological problems like depression and anxiety, or many malnourished women getting pregnant. Or maybe something yet to be discovered.

Now we are bombarded with ads for “Nutrisystem.” We are told that we can lose up to 18 pounds by eating the food they send us — like pizza, hamburgers, etc. — goods that anyone who is health conscious avoids. No doubt it is their version of such foods, but who knows what is in them? How many chemical additives? Maybe even Sensa! Then there’s “Weight Wage” where apparently you are rewarded for the pounds you lose.  

A large part of the problem is that hardly anyone cooks from scratch anymore — often using ready-prepared products that can be microwaved or heated on the stove.

As for now, the road to health and maybe even to losing some weight is a boring one and to many too much trouble. It’s refusing to eat or drink any food that is more than minimally processed and/or is high in sweeteners and/or fat and concentrating on whole grains, veggies and fruit for all meals and snacks. Of course, if enough of us were to do that, the economy would likely go to pot.

Oh, yes, I must not forget the doctor who was quoted as saying that a few extra pounds on an older woman can be a good thing. Now, there’s a man after my own heart!

Since 1984, Dorothy Dimitre has written more than 1,000 columns for various local newspapers. Her email address is gramsd@aceweb.com.